IOU's David Wheeler has been awarded 'Artist-in-Residence' on The British Antarctic Survey (BAS). He will be working in the Antarctic for three months on a research project, developing ideas for new work on his return to IOU. David says:

"Antarctica is an extraordinary place to explore the imagination. The extreme environment and the physical conditions combined with the psychology of the remote desert landscape makes it an inspiring and almost mythical place to work.

The effects of the extreme cold and wind on the way people and objects move in polar conditions – ships moving through pack ice, people wearing bulky clothing, ice particles on materials and the paraphernalia of survival in the cold, will be the starting point for developing ideas.

I plan to observe, make notes and drawings, if possible, make small props and use characters placed in different locations and settings. These experiments will be recorded using still and video cameras. Sequences of ideas, short visual ‘narratives’ will be presented on up to five small video screens, allowing for the progression of an idea from one screen to the next – a video storyboard.

On my return to the UK I will continue to develop ideas seeded in Antarctica and work with my regular collaborators to produce a new production in 2012".